GRAPES OF WRATH | High Road [review]

I didn’t expect much before listening to this new Grapes of Wrath album, High Road. I was forced into learning about the Grapes of Wrath when my sister-in-law gave me a shirt autographed by all four members from the early nineties. My knowledge of them is still cursory at best, but I have a deep appreciation for their album Now and Again. High Road has quite a bit in common with Now and Again. The songs here are strong, have dynamics, but are very overproduced. It’s not like old Grapes stuff had tons of fuzz and reverb laid on top, but their sound needs soul, which sounds like it’s been stripped away here. Though, if you want to hear some perfect vocal harmonies in a well-constructed pop song, this is your album.